


She Taught Him To Look At The Sky

by ThatDamnKennedyKid



Series: The Monarchy of Gotham [4]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, Young Justice - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Female Dick Grayson, M/M, Platonic Female/Male Relationships, Time Skips
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-09
Updated: 2018-10-09
Packaged: 2019-07-20 21:56:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,488
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16146338
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThatDamnKennedyKid/pseuds/ThatDamnKennedyKid
Summary: Wally has been torn on the subject of the infamous Bat Family Syndicate since he was fourteen. He's just really grateful no one's asked his opinion because he's honestly not sure what he'd tell them.





	She Taught Him To Look At The Sky

Wally met her entirely by accident and completely anticlimatically. 

He was running, chasing down a piece of blown up robot that was launched god-knows-where. He was tired and he still had homework that needed doing and there was still a debrief-

He stopped, looking around in the middle of a Gotham street. His watch with the tracker was beeping, meaning the piece was supposed to be here. He frowned, confused, before he was suddenly tackled and the half of a chest he'd been chasing landed right where he'd been with enough force to crack the asphalt. 

They rolled to a stop a few feet away, his vision obscured by a yellow cloth. 

"For someone so fast, you certainly think slow."

Oh, he'd been saved by a girl. "They don't keep me on for my brains. Just my speed and good looks."

She snorted and stood, taking the yellow fabric with her. "I guess we really do do things differently in Gotham."

He blinked to clear and focus his vision, then his jaw dropped. "Holy shit, you're-"

She offered him a black gloved hand. "Robin. Nice to meet you, Kid Flash."

She was a beautiful girl, probably two or three years younger than him. She had shimmering blue-black hair that hung around her face and barely passed her jaw. Her costume was a little strange: dominated by black, her cape had a yellow underside and her torso was red with a little R over her heart and a yellow utility belt. 

"Holy shit." He repeated, but unconsciously took her hand. "You didn't just put a tracker on me, did you?"

She snorted. "Why would I need to do that? You're wearing bright yellow and firetruck red." The grace and strength with which she pulled him to his feet was astounding. 

"You sure?"

"Contrary to the League's belief, our world really doesn't revolve around their dislike of us." She smirked in an infuriatingly adorable fashion. "We brood in the dark for other reasons."

"Oh. Uh, well, thank you. For the save."

"No problem." She patted him on the shoulder and grappled off. 

He realized then that the street had basically frozen around him, all of the civilians waiting for him to move. Most didn't look on him kindly. 

"I'm just gonna-" He picked up the robot piece, "-yeah."

He swore he'd never wanted out of anywhere so much as Gotham, even that creepy-ass lab where they found Supergirl.

* * *

The next time they met was a few years later, and under less pleasant circumstances. 

He was in Gotham again, grabbing something for his mom. Thankfully no one had recognized him out of uniform and he got a chance to actually appreciate the city. It was still wet and rainy all the time, but that night was particularly nice. No rain, just a clear moon and the beautiful lights of the city. 

The explosion rocked the street, and he didn't take the time to think before he was gone. 

It wasn't very far, but it was severe. The bank was on fire and people were running, screaming. Robin was there, dancing out of the way of men with grenade launchers as a man farther back, presumably their boss, reloaded a rocket launcher. 

"Nope."

He grabbed the launcher from his hands, running up and leaving it on a nearby roof. He quickly changed, then ran back down, joining Robin and kicking their asses. But he could tell something had already happened from the more reserved way she moved, how she favoured her right side and refrained from punching with her right hand. 

"You okay?" He asked when they settled back to back. 

"Not now." She replied, throwing small metal disks at the remaining strong men. The explosions from those weren't enough to kill, just to incapacitate. 

He took a glance down at where her arm was ducked under her cape. "Okay, yeah, you need out of here."

"Yeah."

He scooped her up into his arms, then run up a taller building, definitely out of sight. When he set her down, she collapsed onto her knees. 

"What did they do to you?" He asked, kneeling and setting his hand gently on her shoulder. 

"When they blew up the face of the bank, I got hit by debris." She moved her arm to inspect the wound and he got to see it for the first time. 

"You've got a piece of rebar in your ribs!" He squeaked.

"Yup." She winced, visibly trying to breathe as shallowly as possible. "I can feel it."

"You need to go to a hospital."

"No."

"But-!"

"I can't compromise my identity." She sat back, on her other side. "I already pinged Batman. You should go now."

"I can't just leave you here like this."

She chuckled thickly, more liquid there than he was comfortable with. "The rest of your friends don't have your commitment."

He pursed his lips, pulling back his own hood, frowning intensely at her. "I'm not them."

She studied him for a minute before reaching up and removing her own domino mask. Black eyes met blue and she smiled. 

"Dick."

"No need to name call."

She rolled her eyes, extending her free hand to him. "My name. It's Dick."

He took it. "That seems unreasonably cruel."

"My parents thought I was a boy and had already filled out my paperwork as 'Richard' before I was actually born."

"Oh." He smiled back at her. "I'm Wally."

"You're gonna worry if you don't come, right?"

"Well, yeah." He looked away, running his hand through his hair sheepishly. "You've got unsanitary metal and likely shrapnel in your chest."

"If you leave right now, I will meet you back here in a week. No capes. Then I'll buy you dinner."

He hesitated. She could die in much less than a week if she didn't get help. "You have no idea how much I eat."

"And you don't know how much money I have." She grinned, wicked and impish. "Whaddaya say, KF?"

"You've got yourself a deal, Rob."

"Alright. Now, you seriously have to go. Batman will be here any minute and I don't want another incident."

He did as she said with only a worried, cursory glance backward. But the rest of his time running errands, then running home, he was stuck on one word: another.

* * *

Dick turned out to be amazing. 

She pulled him into an alley before they went into the restaurant she'd chosen and pulled up her shirt. 

"Wha-" his eyes adjusted and he was deeply relieved to see crisp white bandages and gauze around the injury site. "Oh thank God."

"You kept looking." She pulled her shirt back down, adjusting her leather jacket to further hide it. "I figured some visual confirmation would ease your mind."

"It does." He breathed. 

"C'mon, let's get food." She led him into the restaurant - a quaint place with a nice retro feel. She seemed to know everyone decently well, too. "Hey Babs!"

"Dick." The young woman at the counter's smile fell some when she laid eyes on him. "Who's he?"

"A new friend." Dick smiled sweetly. "Don't get that glower on, Babs. He's a sweetheart."

"I know who he is." Babs replied shortly. 

Dick took her hand, voice getting sharp. "Barbara, I'm not asking."

Barbara nodded. "Does B know?"

"As much as he needs to."

"Your table's open. Feel free." 

He felt distinctly more uneasy now. "I feel like I'm being inducted into a cult."

She smirked. "Not a cult, but I am letting you in on a secret."

"Goodie." He swallowed thickly. 

She sat them down, decently secluded from the other patrons. 

"This is a front, isn't it?"

"Yes, and no." She sat back easily. "We do fund it, but we don't launder money. So, make of that what you will."

"Why did you bring me here? Why let me in on this? I don't have League secrets to give you."

"I know. I know everything about you, Wally." She crossed her legs. "But I didn't bring you here for entrapment. You're the only League-affiliated hero I've come across that not only didn't attack me on sight, but actually saved me. You were worried, even though you knew who I was, that the League had decided we're enemies."

"I couldn't just leave you there."

She hiked up her leg, pulling up the pant to reveal a jagged scar. "Flash left me under a collapsed wall."

He wanted to vomit. He remembered that. Superman ordered them out of the outskirts and Barry been unable to meet his gaze for weeks. 

"Poison Ivy must have felt bad for me, because she had the vines lift it off me just long enough to crawl out. But my leg was crushed and it was . . . not fun." She lowered her leg again. "But you didn't, and you didn't even know the extent of my injury until after the battle. You're a genuinely good person, and I would like to get to know you better. Maybe even become friends."

He took a deep breath. "Sounds like a plan."

* * *

Dick was unequivocally his best friend. After she moved into Blüdhaven, they got even tighter. She gave him a bracelet, too. Black leather with a matte black clip and a single blue bauble. 

"Squeeze it on either side and it will ping me that you're in danger with your location."

After his experiences with the Team, he wore it everywhere, even after he started dating Artemis. He didn't stop wearing it even after he grew up past needing her help. 

"Who gave it to you?" She'd asked. 

"My best friend." He'd replied without thinking. 

"Am I ever going to get to meet them?"

His brain ground to a halt. 

"Wally's best friend?" M'gann piped up, peering into the living room. 

"Are they a super?" Garfield asked. 

"Not . . . exactly." He replied. 

"Dios mio, just tell him who it is." Jaime said. "Gar won't be quiet till you do."

"Well, she's-"

"It's a girl?" Artemis raised an eyebrow.

"You're in trouble now. So not crash." Bart zipped past, wrapping himself around Jaime. 

"Well, uh, yes. She's female. I've known her since I was, like, thirteen."

"Is she an ex?" M'gann asked.

"What?! No!" He flailed. 

"You are not very convincing." Kaldur said, sitting down in one of the armchairs. 

"Yeah, you're not."

"She's kinda famous, and the League won't like it." He admitted. 

"Have you told Barry?" Bart asked. 

"He knows about her, where she lives." He rubbed the back of his neck. "But he doesn't really like it."

"You're not selling this 'innocent friend' thing."

"Is that your way of asking to meet her?"

"Yes." Artemis stared him down. 

"I would also like to meet her!" M'gann beamed. 

"It takes a special kind of person to be your bestir, Wally. I need to know this woman." Jaime joked. 

"Team outing, then?" Kaldur suggested. 

"Oh my God." He wanted to die. 

"Sure." Artemis, the beautiful crazy vixen that she was, threw him under the bus. 

"Fine. Fine!" He threw up his hands. "Why is everyone in this group so pushy?"

"We're not." Garfield argued. "They didn't leave because of us."

A somewhat uncomfortable silence overtook the room. 

"You're right." He stood, ready to go call her. "Connor and Roy didn't leave because of the Team."

* * *

They chose to meet in the little town out front of Mount Justice, at a small diner that knew the Team pretty well. 

A motorcycle pulled to a stop outside the diner - something this sleepy town didn't have - and a woman pulled off her blue helmet. The bike itself was laced in blue flames and her jacket had a blue Phoenix burned into the back of it. She dropped the kickstand and swung herself off the bike with grace normal people don't have. 

"That's her." He admitted. 

"Dios mio." Jaime muttered. "Are you sure you know her?"

"Are you sure you never dated?" Artemis raised an eyebrow. 

"Is she single?" M'gann enthused. 

"Team." Kaldur muttered in low warning. 

She entered the diner with confidence only regulars possessed and walked right up to them. 

"Here." He moved his jacket off the seat he'd been saving her, between him and the edge of the table. "You can sit here, Dick."

"Dick?" Bart snorted. 

She took off her own jacket, her black shirt clinging to her muscles. She flashed him the same kind of smiles he'd seen on her at press conferences - beauty and charm condensed to a weaponized level. "That's me. Dick Grayson."

Garfield's jaw hit the table, Bart not far behind. Artemis looked shocked, stone-still. 

"Oh my God!" M'gann squealed. "Wally, why did you never tell us?"

"Because I live in Gotham." Dick grinned. "The entire city and the League are somewhat at odds."

"Still." The stars in M'gann's eyes could not have been bigger. "I saw your wedding, I've followed you on the news and all the charity work you do."

"Oh. Well, thank you." She tucked some of her hair behind her ear. It was cute, something she used in public. "I don't do it for the media attention, though."

"I've always been curious about why you chose Bruce Wayne, though."

"M'gann!" He hissed. 

"It's okay." Dick slung her arm over his shoulder. "It's pretty common."

"Sorry." M'gann tucked herself sheepishly into her chair. 

"Don't worry about it." She grinned. "The truth of the matter is that I thought it was a bit of infatuation too. So, I moved to Blüdhaven and became a cop. I worked there for six years, but it didn't go away. I played around my fair share, with men and women. No one caught my eye, and I didn't feel the need to stay. I went back to Gotham, got my own apartment, and started seeing him again. Lunches, dinners, a gala or two when he didn't have a companion."

"It seems very innocent." Kaldur said benignly. 

"It was." She smiled. "But I was older, come to my own. And to understand why people are drawn to him, you have to actually meet Bruce. He's all electric charisma and mystery. We fell for each other, despite those six years apart, and I've never looked back."

"Aren't you ever afraid he'll cheat? I mean, rich men do it all the time." Artemis asked. 

"No. Bruce is singular in his loyalties, and he doesn't play games. Besides, I've known him forever." She met Artemis' gaze. "He would be hard pressed to hide from me."

"Since you're from Gotham," Jaime started, "have you ever seen or met Red Arrow or Supergirl?"

"I have." She said, to Wally's surprise. "Red Arrow I only caught a glimpse of - he doesn't generally stick around. As for Supergirl, yes, I know her quite well."

"You do?" Kaldur asked, unwilling to admit that he was worried for their clone girl. 

"Yes. She's engaged to our adopted son, Tim."

"So the rumours are true." M'gann murmured. 

"They haven't announced it yet, but he popped the question." Her smile softened to one that was deep and sincere. "Connor's a sweet girl, who loves deeply and cares, even if she's abrasive sometimes. i've never seen Tim smile as much as he does when she's there."

"Does she talk about the Team?" Kaldur asked, soft and wounded. 

"Sometimes." She reached across and took his hand. "She told me she left because of Superman, that she wished her relationship with the Team hadn't been the casualty."

Kaldur looked down. "Thank you. Tell her, when you return, that we miss her."

"I will."

"Have you met Batman or Nightwing?" Bart asked. 

She laughed. "Are you trying to figure out if the rumours about me being Batman's mistress is true?"

He shrugged. "Not unless they are."

"I've met Nightwing and Batman, yes. I'm not his mistress, though."

"We're they cool?" Garfield jumped in. 

"I'd say. Batman was very quiet, but Nightwing didn't mind to talk."

"That's so crash!" Bart grinned. 

"They saved us at a charity event, so it wasn't for very long."

"Still."

She chuckled. "You make it sound like you like the Bat Family."

"Well, Supergirl went over there. It can't be that bad." Garfield admitted, to the shock of the table. "That's four good people I know are in Gotham: Connor, Red Arrow, Tim and now you."

"Tim and I?" She asked, confused. 

"Kon loves him enough to want to marry him, so he has to be at least nice. And you're Wally's best friend. He only makes friends with good people." 

"I wouldn't go so far as to say I'm a good person." She replied. "But I'm glad you feel that way. Maybe people like you will be enough to get the League to drop the crusade against my city."

"Crusade against the city?" Kaldur frowned. 

"They're trying to help, I get it." She sighed. "But the Bat Family is far from evil. You have to live in Gotham to appreciate how much they cleaned the place up, how many lives have been saved by their presence and supervision."

"They control the populace."

She raised an eyebrow. "And Superman doesn't? A guy who can all but hear your thoughts? The Family isn't perfect, but the world is far from ending on their watch. The system the Family runs on is one based on trust between the syndicate and the civilians of Gotham. If they don't trust, they don't tell, and the whole structure collapses in on itself from below. Without the adoration of the cities, they wouldn't have any power."

"Cities?"

"I count Blüdhaven, personally. I lived there when Nightwing made her rise to fame. She still goes there, from what I've heard, and they still love her."

"I would love to meet them." Bart sighed dreamily. 

"Who knows?" She flashed a smile. "Maybe one day."

* * *

When he managed to get a hold of the bauble through the material of his suit, he wanted to cry in relief. He squeezed it hard, twice, then waited. 

"I like it when my paycheques line themselves up for me." Their captor chuckled. 

"What makes you think this wasn't on purpose?" He said, sounding braver than he felt. He'd never tried the bauble before, didn't know if water would damage it. 

"On purpose?" The man snorted. "You're strung up on a wall. What threat do you pose to me?"

"And if we're just bait?" He groused. The others were looking at him like he'd lost his mind, well aware that they had no idea what he was trying to do. 

"Bait for my employers, perhaps. Why would I feel the need to get jittery? The League doesn't even know you're gone."

A voice echoed from the ceiling, feminine. "Because you're on the wrong side of the river, Slade."

Deathstroke tensed all at once, frantically scanning the ceiling. "I'm not in your territory, Bat."

"This is the outskirts of Blüdhaven. You're all mine."

The voice had come from the ceiling, but Nightwing appeared from floor level, slamming into Deathstroke full force. He was sent careening into a concrete post. 

"I'll let you show yourself out." She snapped her fingers and lights came on. On the catwalk was Roy, Connor floating mid-air. Both looked murderous, but Connor's eyes were glowing red. 

"No need to be so hostile." Deathstroke stood and walked toward the exit. "But you know Talia won't like this setback."

"Talia can forward all of her complaints directly to me."

"What do you even want with these kids?"

Her voice dropped to a deeper, warning register. "Wilson."

"Whatever." He walked out. 

As soon as Connor was sure he was gone, she grabbed Roy and dropped to the ground. Nightwing was already at the console, the locks and electrofields coming undone. M'gann rushed Connor, smothering the larger woman in a crushing hug. Kaldur and Artemis greeted Roy similarly. In the melee of reconnection, he walked over to her. 

"Thanks, Dick."

"No problem, Wally." She flashed him a smile, removing a flash drive and sticking it in one of her many invisible pockets. "I told you - anytime."

He wanted to hug her, but he also couldn't give her away. 

"Come to Gotham tomorrow night." She whispered. "We'll watch a horror movie and fall asleep on the couch."

"Sounds like a plan." He whispered back, like they were in high school all over again. 

"I have to go, but Kon and Roy will lead you safely out of the city." She winked and grappled off into the darkness. 

"You know more about her than you're letting on." Jaime interrupted his thoughts. 

"Hmm? What makes you say that?"

"This is barely territory at all. Yet, she appeared out here for us? What use does she have to interrupt another villain's plan?"

"I think you're the one thinking wrong." He smiled. "Who's to say she ever was a villain?"

He left the younger hero with that in mind and walked away. He had a movie night to prepare for. 


End file.
